Soils rehabilitation with biocrusts: A review of current - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Soils rehabilitation with biocrusts: A review of current technologies Kyle Doherty, Matthew Bowker, Anita Antoninka, Henry Grover, Kristina Young, Rebecca Durham

Roadmap • Intro: What are biocrusts? • Advances in propagation • Hardening and establishment • Importance of timing treatments • Ongoing projects and future directions

Biocrust!

Soil Stabilization

Carbon Nitrogen

…but I heard they grow slowly?

Forest and Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab Group School of Forestry

Forest and Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab Group School of Forestry

Propagation

Doherty et al. 2015

THE BRYOTRON B

Experiments with Syntrichia ruralis Days per 5 Populations week hydrated X

ANOVA result Effect DF F-value p -value Population 4 7.9242 <0.0001 (5 month exp.) Hydration 3 29.5009 <0.0001 Interaction 12 2.2048 0.0244

Physiologically stressful watering Rapid drying <1hr Pulse of mist Green cultivated moss Measured how many spritzes until yellowing? Experiment performed by our technician Jeff Wright

Yes, differential acclimation/adaptation to watering stress Effect DF F-value p-value Population 4 8.5496 4.946E-06 *** Prior Watering 3 1.4229 0.2401 Interaction 12 1.1358 0.3394 Prior watering from first experiment had no effect!

Fire Moss 2 years post-fire

Bryum argenteum Funaria hygrometrica Ceratodon purpureus

Potential applications: Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER)

Sandy or Ash, Organic charcoal, Soils or both Two Species X X

Early on we established: 1. We can rapidly cul8vate diverse and func8onal biocrusts from most star8ng material 2. Op8mal culture condi8ons vary depending upon the organism and system Antoninka et al. 2015

Hardening and Field Establishment

Maximizing field hardiness As with nursery plants, biocrust might need some help adap7ng from the luxurious greenhouse condi7ons to the harsh field condi7ons

How well does our inoculum survive in the field? 4 watering treatments (2,3,4,5 days con=nuous hydra=on; from Antoninka et al. 2015) Hardening for 21 days: 1. Luxury (GH condi=ons, 24 hours water) 2. Full UV and 2-3 hours hydra=on 3. ½ UV 2-3 hours hydra=on

Best results with outdoor hardening and short dura1on watering during cul1va1on period *Total cover-inoculum addi1on-cover in control plots

Results so far: 1. Jute and Straw improved biocrust establishment *Total cover-inoculum addi4on-cover in control plots

Results so far: 1. Jute and Straw improved biocrust establishment 2. Straw be2er for stability *Treatment slake-control slake

Timing

Bandelier National Monument

History of Bandelier National Monument, NM Photo by Craig Allen Photo by NPS October 2002

May 2015 Install May 2016 2 nd plots and collect post-treatment pre-treatment data July 2015 October 2015 1 st data collec<on Added post treatment data inoculum collec<on

Results We saw no biocrust growth 11 months a3er we applied inoculum We saw no increase in soil stability related to our treatments of flashing, slashing, and seeding We saw large seasonal changes in soil quality and stability unrelated to our treatments. This is a very dynamic system

Future Directions

Delivery mechanisms

Exploring effects on vascular plants

Modeling biocrust abundance and richness ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 46.72 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Predicted Richness ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 30 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 20 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 10 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 46.70 ● ● ● ● ● ● y ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Actual Richness ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 30 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 20 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 10 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 46.68 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● − 114.025 − 114.000 − 113.975 x

Fogponics

Takeaways • Yes we can grow biocrust components rapidly • We are approaching biocrusts from a plant materials mentality, mosses are plants too! • Biocrusts are essential to ecosystem function in western US, please include them in management and funding strategies

Acknowledgements NAU Phillip Patterson Nancy Johnson Pete Chukran Jeff Wright Troy Wood BLM UNLV Wayne Padgett Lloyd Stark Adrienne Pilmanis ASU Ferran Garcia-Pichel Ana Giraldo Sergio Velasco-Ayuso